| This is Kat and I at a very
poor village north of Chiang Rai. Situated 3,500 ft above sea level, it has
no electricity and we had to get in and out via a very narrow hill side
track. Toilets were pathetic... |
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| We finished late and had to
travel down this narrow track at the side of the mountain. |
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| Here's Kat with a little Akha
girl at a village called Hoka. Kat and some of her friends were giving
horse-rides to the little village kids. |
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| Here is Kat and some of our
team's kids putting up a Puppet show at a village church, which would often
be the best, most modern building. This one has brick walls - a super
luxury. |
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| Some of the villages were
quite inaccessible by ordinary vehicles. We use 4x4s and you can see the GPS
that you helped me buy in New Jersey being used here - a bit primitive but
had been very helpful in getting me around in the dark. Another team member
has a more sophisticated one. We have coordinates of a large number of
villages stored since most are unmapped. |
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| This is another really poor
village. They have no electricity and limited sanitation. No doctor was
available to them for years! We reached the village at sun-down and saw more
than 100 patients using torchlight and battery powered lights. |
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| This was the same village - I
had to stitch up somebody's finger under torchlight! Surgery in the dark is
really quite an experience! |
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| Clinic in the dark. This is at
the edge of the Golden Triangle! As a special treat for us, the village head
served us opium leaves for dinner! |
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| This was quite a banquet
served to us by a more affluent village. It was a "Thanksgiving" meal - a
major celebration among the Akha people for God's provision of a good
harvest usually held in late November. We are eating the "new" rice. Really
delicious. |
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| The mountain scenery is really
beautiful. The smell is something else! Temperature swings from 30°C in
mid-day to about 3°C by midnight, thanks to the near cloudless skies at this
time of the year. |
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